Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins is backing his players ahead of tonight’s must-win clash at bottom side Dundalk.
Higgins came out fighting in defence of his squad, who have only won once in their last nine league games, including Monday night’s 1-1 draw at home to Sligo Rovers.
He wants his changing room to continue to stick together in their remaining three league matches, as they aim to win their first top flight title in over two decades.
“People are right to have a pop after the other night against Sligo Rovers absolutely, but again we have an opportunity over the next few weeks to end the season really, really well, and that’s our main focus,” he insisted.
“We’ve won big games before and I’ve no doubt between now and the end of the season we can win some big games.
“You can’t switch form on and off, but you can’t switch belief on and off either, and I totally believe in the players, totally believe in them. They’re really, really good people.
“I know them better than anyone from the outside looking in, so I know what sort of lads we’ve got, even though they’ve been questioned at times, I know what sort of lads we’ve got, and we’ve got really good people who genuinely care.
“Contrary to reports, they genuinely care, so I can see it with my own eyes, I see it every day, and I back them to the hilt and I’ll continue to do that until the end of the season because that’s what they deserve.
“Of course I do think we can do it. We’re in a cup final and we’re two points off the top of the league with three games to go, so of course I think we can finish the season strongly.”
The 39-year-old gaffer concedes that his side’s league form hasn’t been good, but their overall performances in both league and FAI Cup has been good and he hopes they can still have a memorable end of the 2024 campaign.
“We’ve had some good performances of late, obviously not all in the league, and we’re actually in a really privileged position where we have a chance of winning a league title and an FAI Cup, so that’s the way we look at it,” he explained.
“We try to look at it through positive eyes. We’ll let everyone else look at it through negative eyes, but we’ll try to look at it positively and stick together as we’ve always done, the staff and the players and see what we can come up with over the next few weeks.
“Our cup form has been a lot better than our recent league form, and the first half showing on Monday night, we all know and have made no bones about it, and I think I analyse games really honestly after matches, that the first half showing the other night was way, way, way below par and not at the standards that’s required to play for Derry City Football Club.
“Momentum is not with us, but 12 days ago we got ourselves into a cup final going away to Bohemians at Dalymount and putting in a real good display, and we’ve had two draws since that, so momentum’s not with us, but we’ll still fight and we’ll keep fighting, and again we’ll stick together in our dressing room and keep battling on and see what we can come up with.”
The Oriel Park men go into this evening’s game knowing only a victory for them will ensure their top flight status and because of that Higgins knows his former club will give their all to try and avoid the drop.
“It’s a really tough venue,” admitted Higgins.
“You look at some of the results they’ve had at Oriel this year and we know that they’re fighting for their lives down there.
“They’ll have real pride and trying to stay up for their supporters as well, so we know what we’re going to face on Friday and we’ll have to be ready for it.
“Obviously I spent a long time at Dundalk as a player and coach, but there are real good people down there, people that back their club and really good people and obviously you don’t want to see them go down, but we have a job to do, we have our own interests to look after and that’s the forefront of my concerns at the minute.”
The Brandywell men have a host of major injuries going into tonight’s match with Dundalk’s all-time leading goalscorer Pat Hoban likely to miss out because of a hamstring problem, while Ciaran Coll is also a significant doubt with a knee issue.
Meanwhile elsewhere tonight in the Premier Division leaders Shelbourne face Waterford at Tolka Park, in front of the Virgin Media Three cameras.
Champions Shamrock Rovers travel to lowly Drogheda United; in-form St Patrick’s Athletic entertain fellow European hopefuls Galway United, while tomorrow evening Sligo Rovers entertain Bohemians.
The First Division campaign comes to an end with champions Cork City hosting second placed Wexford; Longford Town travel to UCD; Bray Wanderers visit Cobh Ramblers and Kerry have home advantage over Athlone Town.